diversions v high road
COUPE DE THRILL CADILLAC SHARPENS ITS EDGE WITH A NEW 556-HORSE TWO-DOOR ROCKET SHIP, THE CTS-V COUPE. BY HOWARD WALKER
If Pablo Picasso had tried his hand at car design during his analytic cubism period (1909-1912), there’s a fair chance he might have come up with something similar to Cadillac’s stunning new CTS-V Coupe. Here’s a car with more angles and edges than a Cartier diamond, more folds and creases than an origami swan. Run your hand along any part of the Caddy’s trunk lid and you’ll be running for a Band-Aid. Yet here is true design brilliance. Alongside the wetbar-of-soap styling of most other sporty coupes out there, the CTS is a veritable samurai sword on wheels; a car to slice ’n dice its way through the morning rush on I-95. Yes, you can get this razor-edge styling on a regular V6-powered CTS Coupe. But why would you when you can rush your adrenaline with the thundering CTS-V and its 556-horsepower, 6.2-liter supercharged V8 nuclear powerhouse? To drive this thing with a modicum of anger is like an e-ticket ride in an F-14 Tomcat fighter jet—off an aircraft carrier. Pick your gear, plant the throttle and 551 62
PALM BEACH ILLUSTRATED
pound-feet of torque will launch you from standstill to 60 mph in a stupid-fast 3.9 seconds. And it delivers this tsunami of thrust to the accompaniment of one of the most sinister soundtracks imaginable. As revs rise, the Caddy’s supercharger emits the kind of baleful wail that will have every little hair on the back of your neck standing to attention. This is a car to lock horns with BMW’s blunt instrument M3 coupe and Audi’s upcoming 450-horsepower RS5 coupe, and give them a collective spanking. So thrilling is its performance, so dynamic is its handling, so amazing is the whole package, that this $69,500 (with a few must-have options) rocket ship sets a new world standard in sports coupe sexiness. And that sexiness starts the instant you open the door. There’s nothing so ordinaire as a door handle here. Reach into the door recess, press lightly on a small rubbery pad, and an electric motor pops the door open. Now settle down into the optional ($3,400) Recaro high-performance front seat. Here you’re locked in place as tightly as a bear hug from Hulk Hogan, which makes it